


The Remnant

by EccentricAuthors



Category: Star Wars, Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017)
Genre: Canon Divergent, Force-Sensitive Hux, Hux is not First Order, Kylo Ren and Rey Are Related, Kylo Ren is Not Nice, M/M, Made Up Planets, No Spoilers, Non-First Order, Other, Scavenger Armitage Hux, Tagged Explicit For Later Chapters, Tags Subject to Change, Young Armitage Hux, Younger Kylo Ren
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-02-17 06:42:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13071273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EccentricAuthors/pseuds/EccentricAuthors
Summary: In which Armitage Hux is not a general, and rather fled the Academy at the age of sixteen to be a loner, Kylo Ren started the New Empire (an organisation not dissimilar to the First Order), and everyone wants Hux.





	1. Don’t Join

**Author's Note:**

> Hux is 26. Kylo is 24. This is canon divergent MAJORLY. No spoilers for TLJ.

Night had fallen on on Arca III, leaving Armitage to stumble up the steps and into the quiet, warm security of his current host home.  
It belonged to an elderly woman of an incredibly humanoid species, one with silvery hair and skin ranging from lavender to royal purple, who said (in her language) that she simply _adored_ his hair and his freckles.  


Armitage Hux had no allegiance. He was nothing but one of the last remnants of the Old Empire.

He trudged up a short set of stairs with a silent sigh, shutting the door of the neat hut behind him as he entered. His hostess was a kind creature, greeting him at the door with something to eat.  
He gratefully accepted it with a quiet ‘Thank you’ in her language. Armitage walked into his temporary room afterwards, shrugging off his grey jacket after staring himself in the mirror. Blue-green eyes met themselves, dragging over slightly curling ginger locks and a young, tired face scattered with freckles. 

It wasn’t much, three blankets on the floor, one folded to resemble a pillow. A small desk with a couple of materials on it and a lamp, as well as the mirror above it, were all that permanently lived in this small space.  
He dumped out the contents of his bag, determining what he could sell and what he should keep. He came out of it with, first, a pair of new boots to replace his.  
“Good.” He murmured to himself. The soles were coming loose from his current ones, he couldn’t keep them for much longer.  
After a bit more sorting he picked up an odd ring. It had a slider that, when pushed, opened up to reveal the logo of the Resistance. It would be helpful to him, as with his hood up, nobody would seem his face, and he had something to flash to anyone who may be attempting to pick him out of a crowd.  
His next item was a mostly silver pin, with some black lines embossed on it. The note of the New Empire, an organisation run by the notorious Kylo Ren. Nobody knew what he looked like or what he sounded like under his mask.  
They didn’t want to, either.

A pelt-bound notebook and some sort of pen followed, into his own personal bag. It was time for him to find his new place of dwelling. Armitage couldn’t live off this woman for much longer. He was being followed. 

As if on cue, as he shoved his new personals into his bag, he heard a faint, familiar droning. Here they were.

The New Empire, a revival of the Old, the galaxy’s newest military power. The organisation was the lead in technology and engineering across every star system, and had enough artillery to wipe out an entire planet, if they felt the need.  
He shoved things into his bag rapidly, pausing only to look in the mirror again. He hadn’t changed a bit from when he first fled Arkanis, definitely not enough to elicit any significant reaction.

He bid his caretaker goodbye and good health, stepping out into the darkness of the night, swearing. There were the outline of modern Star Destroyers in the near sky, as well as what seemed to be Resistance ships in the distance, far in the other direction.  
Maybe, if he was lucky, they would distract each other, he thought, breaking into a sprint.

 

Aboard one of those Destroyers, the Force user Kylo Ren prepared to take a transport onto the planet. Wordlessly, he looked over the small team coming with him, all equipped with blasters. Hopefully, they wouldn’t be truly necessary.  
“Lord Ren, Resistance ships have broken atmosphere.” A Lieutenant at a control panel looked up, her face masked by the brim of her uniform hat.  
Ren looked back to her, his own hidden by a black mask. A helmet, really, one that kept his voice hush and his face unknown.  
“Fire on them when necessary.” He ordered. “Our target is within our grasp. Letting him get away is not an option.”  
He didn’t wait for her response before turning back, joining his men on the transport. It was, hopefully, finally time to capture the last surviving child of the Empire.

Of course, Armitage felt much differently.  
He wanted nothing to do with a new Empire. If he had, he wouldn’t have fled what remained of the Old. He wanted to be left alone, to his chosen, quiet life of rummaging through dead droids and abandoned storage buildings. Of course, he knew that wouldn’t ever be a possibility.  
Which led him to this, being pursued by both the infamous Kylo Ren and the highly respected General Leia Organa. Both were smart, however, one was considered strict but kind and the other malevolent and dark.  
Unfortunately, his most likely way out was out of the question. Something had destroyed the circuitry of the ship he had been offered escape on, which he didn’t discover until after he had arrived. That left him with some run-down ship, barely functional enough to hit light speed.  
It could, though, and that was what mattered.  
He managed to get on it before he knew he was being followed, and he didn’t see more than the outline of his pursuers.  
He had barely evaded them.

 

Nobody was happy with this, as expected.  
Ren ordered a search and siege of the planet after he had finished throwing a little fit, ripping apart everything in a ten foot radius with his lightsaber.  
General Organa, though disappointed, simply made plans for the Resistance to keep trying for him. He knew too much about the Old Empire to not be of use, and he seemed smart enough— he had been evading them for years./p>

For Armitage, touchdown on a new planet meant a new start. Something fresh, where he had a few weeks before he was found.  
He found himself in a desert, with twin suns and orange sand. A bit warmer than he would like, yes, but not horrifically so.  
And, the best part: A place where nobody would know him, where nobody would ask questions.  
After all, the most recent photograph that anyone would be able to uncover was from his last year at the Academy. Age sixteen, hair flat ironed and pushed back with gel, his face rounder and eyes sparkling with the hopes and determination of youth.

For now, though, he was safe in the silence of the desert.  
He began walking.


	2. Strangers

Armitage was lucky to be a pretty man. His physical assets were something he had learned to embrace and utilise. Sometimes, a tiny smile and a few extra blinks were just enough to get him dinner, and sometimes they got him a place to stay for the night.  
Seeing as it was the early afternoon (wherever he was), it made sense that nearly everybody was out and about. A few handfuls of children were playing and working, women were lining the streets in stalls with different creatures and items for sale.  
Armitage was looking for something to eat, at this point. It had been a while, a week since he arrived on the planet, and he didn’t know how long he had at rest before he had to return to running from one planet to another. It did look like formal establishments were a little on the scarce side here, unfortunately, especially as the three he had seen in his time were a run down strip club and two bars. He had vaguely acknowledged that he didn’t want _that_ to end up being how he earned his keep here.  
Seeing as he wasn’t paying attention for once, he ran into someone. His own body responded with an ‘oof’, and he stepped back immediately.  
“I apologise, I didn’t mean to...”  
He trailed off and his eyes widened. The man he had run into was very human and _very_ solid. Tall, pale, with dark curly hair half masked by a hood. The stranger’s dark eyes were half playful, and half interested.  
“It’s okay. You have to be new around here.” His voice was low, almost musical, and a bit humorous. “I’m... Ben, who are you?”  
“Armitage.” He said softly, feeling a bit intimidated and possibly suspicious of him. “And yes, I suppose I am. I’ll admit you don’t look too much like a native, yourself.”  
Ben—if that was really his name—seemed taken aback by that. “I just know my way around the place. It’s obvious you don’t.”  
That embarrassed him, certainly. A flush gathered high on his cheeks.  
“Excuse me, but what is that meant to mean?” He half hissed, trying to keep his voice from being too overly hostile.  
“It _means_ that you’re about to walk into the bad side of town, and if you want to keep yourself safe, you need to turn back.”  
Armitage all but visibly bristled at that. How dare this stranger imply that he didn’t know how to take care of himself? He looked barely more than a child! “I’m just looking around. I have eyes, I can see when a place is unsafe. I don’t very much appreciate you claiming that I’m unable to protect myself.”  
Ben looked... amused, to Hux’s dismay. He found the ginger’s distress funny. “I don’t know who wanders an alley full of junk and yesterday’s garbage for fun, unless you dumpster dive for a living.”  
That definitely felt like a criticism, especially given the way that the bulkier man was sizing him up.  
“If you’re going to try to rob me, why don’t you do it already? You gain nothing from idle chatter.”  
“I don’t gain anything from offering you help, either, do I?” He asked, focusing back on Hux’s face. “I might as well, though. It isn’t like I’m doing anything majorly important, anyway.”  
That only made his suspicions grow. Who was this man? What did he do? Why was he speaking to him? Hux clearly didn’t look like he had much to offer in the way of money or other material goods.  
“I can take care of myself. I don’t need your help.” He said stubbornly, staring at him. Yes, something about this man set off his flight instinct.  
“It looks to me like you do.” Ben argued. He was starting to get a little frustrated. This was a good plan, he knew it was. Gain Hux’s trust, learn his patterns, take him back before he could realise what the reality was. He didn’t get attached to people, and so this little project wouldn’t be that much of an issue.  
At least, it wouldn’t be if he could actually get him to agree.  
Hux wasn’t a fan of senseless argument and it wasn’t like he was going to be here for any extended period of time. Luckily, he would be off this planet by the end of the lunar cycle, and then this strange, pretty man would be behind him.  
Pretty. Why had he thought pretty?  
“Fine, I suppose. But I retain my right to leave at any time if I wish.” He finally settled on that.  
Instantly the brunet man’s eyes seemed to light up. Maybe he was just one of those oddballs that enjoyed picking people up off the street.  
Of course, some of the nagging realities of possibility nagged at him. Ben could try to drug him, he could hurt him, any number of things.  
For some reason, he decided he could trust him.

 

He spent the next handful of hours being shown around the settlement and introduced to the people who lived there. Everyone seemed to know Ben, and he began to think that maybe he wasn’t so terrible.  
“Final stop on the grand tour. This is where I live, and you can stay here.” The broad man looked at Hux over his shoulder, and he responded by looking past him. It was a small building, baked bricks made from the sand and claylike soil of the planet. Still, he didn’t sense any more danger.  
“Thank you. I may have to take you up on that offer. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be here, further than that it won’t be long enough to warrant renting anything.”  
He seemed to understand that, nodding. “Yeah, that would make sense. Anyway, you can stay here. It doesn’t seem like you’ll spend a lot of time in anyway, judging by that sunburn of yours.”  
That made him blush. Of course he was burned, he hadn’t been used to day work. Typically he did his job by night, but with the temperature drop here, he couldn’t.  
“Yes, well... some of us have responsibilities.” He murmured, shrugging. Ben said nothing, simply smiling a little and shaking his head as he entered the small home.

Hux followed, not allowing himself time to doubt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kylo has some tricks up his sleeve. Kudos are appreciated and I try to respond to every comment!


End file.
